The Lawn Tennis Championship Meeting is under the joint
management of The All England Tennis and Croquet Club and
The Lawn Tennis Association.
The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club
The Championships are run by a Committee consisting of 12
AELTC members and 7 nominees from the Lawn Tennis Association
(LTA). Preparation for The Championships begins directly after
the preceding meeting, implemented by seven full-time executives
and their staff.
Over 6,000 people attend The Championships in a working capacity.
These include a temporary staff of several hundred, who are
directly employed by The All England Lawn Tennis Club, and
others who are provided by firms, contractors, voluntary bodies
and public services, as well as representatives of the media.
In short, during the Fortnight at the end of June and the
beginning of July, the Club is a hive of activity, squarely
in the eye of the sporting world.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club is a not-for-profit organisation.
The funds generated by The Championships, less tax, are used
by the LTA to develop tennis in Great Britain.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club
Church Road
Wimbledon
London SW19 5AE
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
The museum offers a glimpse of how the original medieval real tennis has
now become a multi-million dollar professional sport played all over the world.
Open year round, the Museum includes memorabilia from many famous players and includes tours of
Centre Court, featuring a state of the art Audio/Visual Theatre showing highlights of great players in action.
A Committee of Management consisting of The All England Lawn
Tennis Club Committee (twelve members) and seven nominees
of The Lawn Tennis Association, form sub-committees for all
major aspects of the meeting, e.g. catering, finance, ground,
information technology, press and broadcasting, marketing,
order of play, ticket allocations, transport, etc. The Club
provides the staff back-up.
The Committee: AELTC – T.D. Phillips CBE (Chairman), P.G.H.
Brook, J.S. Dunningham, R.M. Gradon, I.L.
Hewitt, Miss. D.A. Jevans, Mrs. A.S. Jones MBE., Mr M.A. King, Mrs. M.B.H.
Macpherson, G.M. Newton, J.C. Tatum, K.F. Weatherley. LTA
– S.G. Smith (President), P.W. Bretherton, Miss V. Gooding CBE, D.P. Howorth, Sir
Robert Phillis, C.M. Thomson, C.R. Trippe.
Preparing
for The Championships
The preparations for The Championships start directly after
the preceding meeting. Improvements are considered by the
Committee of Management and the decisions taken are implemented
from then onwards. Grass renovation to the Centre and No.1
Courts starts immediately after The Championships and on the
other courts during August and September.
Between Championships, the Club has regular meetings with
officials from the London Borough of Merton - within which the
Club is situated - and other interested parties, to consider
traffic and queueing problems experienced during the Fortnight
and to monitor progress on remedies recommended.
Maintenance of Courts
The Centre Court and No.1 Court are re-sown each year, where
necessary, as soon as possible after The Championships. Contrary
to popular belief, they are not re-turfed. The outside courts,
although used considerably more throughout the year, are also
oversown.
Merchandising
The Wimbledon Merchandising programme was started by The All
England Lawn Tennis Club in 1979 and has three objectives:
to increase awareness of Wimbledon throughout the world
to further enhance the image of The Championships
to provide
additional funds for the development of lawn tennis
The All England Lawn Tennis Club has 24 licensees in 7 countries.
The principal products licensed are tennis and casual wear,
footwear, tennis rackets, bags and balls. In addition,
the Club licenses a select range of luxury products such as
towels, fine leather goods, sunglasses, crystal, jewellery
and luxury food products. In the UK, there is a Wimbledon
“Shop in Shop” in Harrods as well as duty free
outlets at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The Club now
has 20 Wimbledon shops in China under franchise. The trademarks
of the Wimbledon crossed rackets and flying “W”
are registered in some 42 countries.
Wimbledon merchandise is available on the Website. Wimbledon Shop
Staff
for The Championships
Referee's Office
The Referee (Andrew Jarrett) is the arbiter on any question
involving interpretation of the rules of the game. He also
runs the Qualifying Competition.
He and his assistants are responsible for putting matches
onto court, recording and displaying results, allocating the
duties of umpires and line judges, and undertaking a variety
of other duties connected with the programme of matches.
Crowd Management
The Association of Wimbledon Honorary Stewards is responsible
for crowd management and acts as ‘host’ to the
public, directing, advising and giving help and guidance to
visitors. The members marshal the queues (inside and outside
the grounds) and supervise the seating of spectators with
the assistance of volunteer Service personnel on leave and
a contingent provided by the London Fire Brigade.
The presence of Honorary Stewards at Wimbledon originated
in 1927, but it was not until June 1950 that the Association
was formed. The present membership is approximately 150. Service
personnel were first used in 1946 and members of the London
Fire Brigade in 1965.
Consultants
The Club engages the International Management Group, who assist
with a number of on-site agreements. They are responsible
for television rights, the official film of The Championships
and matters relating to merchandising.
Bell Pottinger are retained to advise on and assist with
all matters relating to communications with the press and
public.
List of Staff
An approximate list of official and staff engaged for the
duration of The Championships is as follows:
